Thread: contracts.....fair?

I am new to the biz (1.5months) and I have been studying this site for 3 months. I see a lot of comments about contracts and my question is how fair is a contract to a customer......

If you bill them monthly they pay for each mow.....if they are in a contract they pay per month for 12 months on the basis of 29-32 cuts and anything over the contracted agreement gets billed to them and anything under is profit.

Where I am confused is it is a win win situation for the lawn care company, but how fair is that to the customer if we have a dry season and only get 23 cuts in but they are paying for 29 (or contracted agreement). I totally understand why these lawn care businesses are doing this, but in reality how many actually get away with it? Is 20% of the field contracting or is 70% contracting.....just curious.

Because, regardless if it needs attending or not, you, or you & your crew had to drive out to the job to assess it. Maybe there is one large limb down in the center of the property, 2 min.s worth of work but the "Maintenence" of the yard is upheld, as is your agreement.